Adaptive Toolpath Strategy

The adaptive toolpath strategy is a high efficency roughing strategy available for milling operations.

It's considered a high efficency because it can easily extend your tool life using a different path compared to the traditional OFFSET strategy.

Main benefits:
- Constant engagement angle
  
  The tool never reaches full radial engagement. Sudden overloads are avoided.
- Uniform tool wear
  
  Cutting forces are distributed along the entire flute length, not concentrated at the tool tip.
- Lower spindle load
  
  Because engagement is controlled, less peak power is required from the machine.
- Longer tool life
  
  Reduced heat concentration and mechanical shock significantly extend tool life.
- Higher material removal rate (MRR)
  
  Enables deep axial cuts with small radial engagement.
- No special machine required
  
  Benefits are achievable on standard CNC machines, provided the toolpath is supported by the CAM software.

To select it , choose "ADAPTIVE" for the strategy property , under the roughing operation.

This is the common default OFFSET toolpath. In indicated point the tool work almost at full cut and there is a big engagement angle.

This one is the toolpath generated with ADAPTIVE strategy . You can see the tool works with constant load and never exceed a high engagement angle. In this way you can use deeper passes in order to distribuite the force all along the flute.

Toolpath Behavior

The toolpath is non-linear and smooth
Sharp 90° corners are avoided
Feedrate remains stable
Machine motion is more fluid, reducing vibration and mechanical stress

If you need more information about this strategy , you can search "HIGH SPEED MACHINING" on Google , or take a look at this post :

https://www.harveyperformance.com/in-the-loupe/8-ways-youre-killing-your-end-mill/ , in particulat to section "Using Traditional Roughing"

If you work wood or plastic material, this strategy doesn't provide any benefits compared to the traditional offset strategy

Typical Cutting Parameters

Adaptive milling usually operates with:

Radial engagement: ~7–12% of tool diameter
Axial depth: 2–3× tool diameter (sometimes more, tool-dependent)
Chip load: kept constant by the CAM algorithm

How to change feed value to link moves ?

You can edit the default feed in link moves from post processor dialog.

1) Select the Machine Properties tab

2) Search "adaptive"

3) Insert your custom value. Leave 0 to use the fabric default value.